Jessica Biel Opens Up About Having a 'Secret COVID Baby'

The actress and producer told Dax Shepard that she and Justin Timberlake didn't originally intend to keep her pregnancy a secret.

Jessica Biel is opening up about life as a mom of two. In a new episode of Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast, the actress and producer told Shepard that she didn't originally intend to keep her pregnancy and birth to Phineas, 11 months, a secret.

Biel and her husband, Justin Timberlake, confirmed the news in January after reports surfaced that they had welcomed baby No. 2 in July. The pair are already parents to 6-year-old son Silas.

"I had, like, a secret COVID baby," Biel shared. "It wasn't like it was supposed to be a secret. It was just COVID happened, and then I went to Montana with my family and never left."

With changing COVID restrictions, Biel told Shepard that she wasn't even sure if Timberlake would be allowed in the room for Phineas' birth. Luckily, the 40-year-old singer was able to be there for the birth of their baby boy.

"The hospital restrictions had just changed," Biel explained. "And there was a moment there that there was nobody allowed at all and I was really getting nervous about that situation. But yes, he was allowed. I think if I had to be there alone, that would have been horrible. I would have been really scared."

Biel has been spending her days juggling Zoom calls and changing diapers, and while The Sinner star admitted it's been "super hard," she called being a family of four "amazing."

"Someone said to me, 'Two is like having a thousand.' And that's exactly what it feels like," she shared. "The balance of everything is very different and super hard. But I agree. I mean, it's amazing. It's so interesting. It's so funny. The conversations I'm having now with my 6-year-old is so cool. Like, he's a real person saying the funniest stuff and he's so sensitive and tender. It's just so interesting to see that part of it happen and the little one is just cute as hell."

Phineas, like Silas, will soon be ushered into his famous parents' world, seeing his dad onstage and mom behind the camera, but Biel isn't pushing for them to enter the family business.

"My knee-jerk reaction is 'Oh god, no. Please no.'" she said. "But then I look at these kids and I'm like, oh sh*t, they're probably going to be musical. What are we going to do? Like, not let them play the piano or not let them take a voice lesson if that's their passion? ... I don't want to be that parent to stifle a dream. But man, if my kid would just be like, 'Let's go learn about corn in Iowa.' [I'd be like], 'Great.' I would so much rather them be an engineer or something."

For more on Biel, watch the video below.

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